One night he takes refuge in a small hovel adjacent

result of these incidents, he resolves to stay away from humans. One night he takes refuge in
a small hovel adjacent to a cottage. In the morning, he discovers that he can see into the
cottage through a crack in the wall and observes that the occupants are a young man, a
young woman, and an old man.
Summary: Chapter 12
Observing his neighbors for an extended period of time, the monster notices that they often
seem unhappy, though he is unsure why. He eventually realizes, however, that their despair
results from their poverty, to which he has been contributing by surreptitiously stealing
their food. Torn by his guilty conscience, he stops stealing their food and does what he can
to reduce their hardship, gathering wood at night to leave at the door for their use. The
monster becomes aware that his neighbors are able to communicate with each other using
strange sounds. Vowing to learn their language, he tries to match the sounds they make with
the actions they perform. He acquires a basic knowledge of the language, including the
names of the young man and woman, Felix and Agatha. He admires their graceful forms and
is shocked by his ugliness when he catches sight of his reflection in a pool of water. He
spends the whole winter in the hovel, unobserved and well protected from the elements,
and grows increasingly affectionate toward his unwitting hosts.
Summary: Chapter 13
As winter thaws into spring, the monster notices that the cottagers, particularly Felix, seem
unhappy. A beautiful woman in a dark dress and veil arrives at the cottage on horseback and
asks to see Felix. Felix becomes ecstatic the moment he sees her. The woman, who does not
speak the language of the cottagers, is named Safie. She moves into the cottage, and the
mood of the household immediately brightens. As Safie learns the language of the cottagers,
so does the monster. He also learns to read, and, since Felix uses Constantin-François de
Volney’s Ruins of Empires to instruct Safie, he learns a bit of world history in the process.
Now able to speak and understand the language perfectly, the monster learns about human
society by listening to the cottagers’ conversations. Reflecting on his own situation, he
realizes that he is deformed and alone. “Was I then a monster,” he asks, “a blot upon the
earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?” He also learns about the
pleasures and obligations of the family and of human relations in general, which deepens
the agony of his own isolation.
Summary: Chapter 14
After some time, the monster’s constant eavesdropping allows him to reconstruct the
history of the cottagers. The old man, De Lacey, was once an affluent and successful citizen

in Paris; his children, Agatha and Felix, were well-respected members of the community.
Safie’s father, a Turk, was falsely accused of a crime and sentenced to death. Felix visited the
Turk in prison and met his daughter, with whom he immediately fell in love. Safie sent Felix
letters thanking him for his intention to help her father and recounting the circumstances of